1300km down 100km to go All cyclists met at Portadown Rugby Club at 9 am. Just before we left, over 400 cyclists, marshalls and crew gathered on the rugby pitch, where we formed the biggest human circle l have ever seen. We stood shoulder to shoulder, arms around each other for a minutes silence for our marshal, our protector, our friend, Brenawn O Connell whose service took place today. The first leg of todays cycle was a constant road of rolling hills with some light showers and beautiful countryside.Todays lunch stop was in Carlingford Community College where we got off the bikes and the local pipe band lead us through the streets of Carlingford. 2fm DJ Colm Hayes took todays proceedings in hand as Jim attended the funeral mass. It was a big ask to fill Jims shoes but he did an excellent job. No school kids, which leaves a massive void. After lunch we headed to Dundalk which was not as scenic as the morning because we spent a lot of time on the motorway. We were greeted by Jim as we arrived into Dundalk Institude Of Technologhy. While there we listened to a brief talk on the thoughts of the speakers who spoke on different days along our journey, namely Colm Hayes, Bressie, Cavan goalkeeper Alan O Meara, Paul and Sabrina Ryan. I tryed to sleep for a bit this evening but there is a million things running through my mind, what was l going to write about tonight? l cant believe tomorrow is the last day, am l glad its coming to an end? Am l sorry its coming to an end? What will it be like when its over, when we come out of this bubble and return to normal life? Its not going to be easy. When l signed up for this journey l really did not know what to expect. I signed up for the cause, l did it on an An Post bike for the challenge, l did it for my own personal reasons. Nothing could ever have prepared me for this journey. I laughed, l cryed, l hugged, l listened, l spoke, l opened up, l made friends for life, people left me speechless with their stories of how suicide and mental health problems affected their lives and the lives of those around them. The interest in my blogs, both here and at home, the likes, the shares, the comments has completely blown me away. If it has helped one person, then it has all been worthwhile for me. This hopefully will not only break the cycle of suicide on the island of Ireland but will help those already effected by it, and most importantly help people to realise that its ok not to feel ok, and its ok to ask for help just please speak to someone, open that door. It truely has been an incredible rollercoaster ride of emotions, a life experience that l will never ever forget.
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 20:58:48 +0000
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